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Re: Films

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 10:08 am
by plummy
TDKR is on my list for an early visit to the cinema - reviews all seem great (apart from the one in the Mail on Sunday)

Watched Real Steel last night - complete bunch of cliches and the most predictable plot ever. Probably ok if you are a 7 year old male

The Descendents (George Clooney) was an interesting one. Refreshingly different despite the fairly dark subject matter.

Re: Films

Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 12:01 pm
by JonathanA
Also planning a trip to The Dark Knight Rises in the next couple of weeks.

Recent offering was 'Down the Valley' starring Ed Norton. I don't think it's a new film but the usual setting, cinematography and twist made it worth a watch.

Re: Films

Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 5:00 pm
by plummy
The Dark Knight Rises - I think this suffered from a bit to much hype and expectation. Didn't better the last film by some margin but still well worth the visit to the cinema.

The Woman in Black - I still can't accept Daniel Radcliffe as a decent actor but the film itself was pretty good overall actually - certainly had it's spooky moments. I thought the end was a bit lame though.

Re: Films

Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:05 pm
by webberg
Saw a selection of films on a recent flight.

Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol - Tom Cruise and some other dude and a lot of special effects to take your mind of the "plot" which had more holes than a fishing net.

Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - stellar cast of English actors (Dench, Nighy, Smith) and a great location. Gentle philosphy and well observed. Great lines from Nighy after fixing a tap - I won't spoil it.

J Edgar - rubbish

John Carter of Mars - horrible interpretation of what was in its day a good book. Check out those tights though.

Re: Films

Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 6:34 pm
by Stan
Have to agree with Graham ( :shock: ) about John Carter. I remember they were the first sci fi books I ever read - fantastic stories. The film was a disappointing interpretation. Lynn Carter did look good though

Re: Films

Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 9:01 pm
by Den-J
I listen to audio books while i'm rowing librivox.org do free out of copyright stuff and like you Stan the martian series was some of the first stuff I read as a kid ...believe me its not as good as you remember :lol:

Re: Films

Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 9:44 pm
by Stan
Yeah one does tend to look back through rose tinted specs. I have read them again and they are not as good as I remember them - still better than the film though :lol:

Re: Films

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 8:40 am
by webberg
many books read as a child fall short when re-read as an adult.

I was (and am) a massive Sci fi fan. John Wyndham was my first real love and I've recently been going over them again with my youngest and find them very simple by the standards of todays books.

That said, I'm also reading some novels from the early 1900's and some of those are so dense as to cause a real struggle!

Re: Films

Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2012 11:51 am
by plummy
Had the misfortune to watch Battleship last night. I think it was written by a 9 year old for a similar age group audience. More cliches than there were plot holes (and there were plenty of them). The script was so bad in places I was actually quoting lines before they were spoken - word for word.

Nice spaceships though

Why do Hollywood persist in having every "hero" start a movie as a drunken deadbeat/unable to take orders/juvenile idiot/life failure?

Re: Films

Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2012 12:29 pm
by Stan
oh Plummy, Plummy, Plummy! Never ever wear your brain when watching a film like that, it will ruin the experience for you :lol:

Re: Films

Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2012 10:48 am
by plummy
Men in Black III - apart from Josh Brolin doing a young Tommy Lee Jones (very good), mostly disappointing and far too similar to the previous outings. They seem to just be re-hashing and should leave it alone now

Skyfall - yep, agree with everyone else, very good. A tiny little tad slow and talky in places but never for very long. 2.5 hours of good entertainment - well worth a visit to the cinema and the first film I've seen all year that lived up to the expectation. Actually found myself with a big broad grin on my face a few times.

Friends with Benefits - I would normally run a 100 miles from anything "rom-com" but this was several degrees above that level being sharply written, well acted and pretty fast paced. Caught it by complete accident really and it was a very pleasant surprise. Even Justin Trousersnake was good in it!

Prometheus - watch it again on Sky this time. Still as bad as it was at the cinema. Mr Ridley - stop pandering to the 12A/15 brigade and make a proper gritty movie.

Re: Films

Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2012 8:12 pm
by Thomas W-P
Saw Skyfall on Saturday. Loved it, what a good film. Brilliant that they had the old Aston in it, and that they used all the tricks, but I would have been even happier to see the Lotus Esprit!

Madagascar III - absolutely brilliant movie. Rare that a III is better than I and II but they have got better each time and the first one wasn't bad.

Re: Films

Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 10:28 pm
by Thomas W-P
Just saw Avengers Assemble on BluRay. Fantastic comic book fun. Jos Weedon (Firefly) is a genius. I think my best moment was hulk's "Puny God" moment :D

Re: Films

Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2012 11:28 pm
by Stan
Just back from seeing the Hobbit. Jackson does his usual magic! He takes a few liberties with the story as he did with lord of the rings, but it doesnt detract from the film. Will probably see it again.

Re: Films

Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 7:54 pm
by kirbyt
I liked it too but I can't remember the pale orc guy from the book...mind you I read it 37 years ago so I could be wrong. It's weird that Jackson made 3 movies from 1000+ pages (LOTR) and is making 3 movies from 300+ pages (Hobbit) but money speaks loudest I guess.

Re: Films

Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 9:01 pm
by Paul Victory
kirbyt wrote:I liked it too but I can't remember the pale orc guy from the book...mind you I read it 37 years ago so I could be wrong. It's weird that Jackson made 3 movies from 1000+ pages (LOTR) and is making 3 movies from 300+ pages (Hobbit) but money speaks loudest I guess.
Just back from seeing the Hobbit. I enjoyed it up to a point, but I get the feeling that three 3 hour movies sis stretching the storyline a bit thin and that showed at times.

I also think there was a lot in the movie that wasn't in the book and I'm going to read it again.

I went with my wife and son (who is a huge movie buff and a major major fan of LOTR) and he asked me on the way home if I would go to see the other movies and I had to answer that I might just watch them on DVD. Maybe I'll change my mind when the next one comes around, but I definitely feel that making 3 movies from one shortish book is at least one too many.

Re: Films

Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 11:11 pm
by Stan
Some of the things in the film are taken from mere sentences in the book. Azog is mentioned in Tolkiens work, but not referred to as the pale orc _ that is Jackson's invention. As Gandalf says in the film - all good stories need embellishing - and that's what Jackson has done. It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea of course. I don't think Jackson is doing this for the money, he just loves the stories. I will concede that he wouldn't be able to do this if the financial backers were not going to get their money back and then some!

Re: Films

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2013 11:10 pm
by plummy
Spontaneous last minute decision to go and see the Hobbit. Overall, I was well pleased with it but you have to endure the first 30-40 minutes of dwarf intros which does stretch your patience. After that it rattles along quite nicely and yes, it is "very loose" when it comes to sticking to the original story - but not to the point where you give a hoot as it's entertaining enough stuff.

I had the misfortune to have to sit through Magic Mike a couple of weeks ago - what a plotless load of tripe

Looking forward to seeing Les Miserables as I've never seen it on stage.

Re: Films

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2013 7:30 am
by plummy
Watched Dredd on Sky the other night. I'm not sure why but I liked the first one (with Stallone), possibly as it doesn't take itself very seriously - but this one is just an hour and a half of wasted life and basically a "we need to escape/shoot 'em up" Avoid..

Re: Films

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2013 11:43 am
by plummy
Looper (Bruce Willis) - fairly original Sci-Fi/time travel stuff and pretty original to be honest. Never really captured my imagination and doesn't linger long in the memory but certainly a decent time passer.

The Punisher (John Travolta) - caught this on TV and for over an hour I was trying to make my mind up if it was the worst film ever made. After another 20 minutes I lost the willpower to watch it any longer even though it was SO bad it was becoming watcheable for just that reason

Finally went to see Les Miserables on the big screen. I've not see the stage show so although I knew snippets I wasn't sure of the overall "plot" as such. I have to say I have mixed emotions but maybe because my expectations were very high (having heard the hype etc). That said, Mr Jackman put in an Oscar worthy performance, the whole thing was a real triumph and although I was hoping the film would end on a standing ovation like chorus with not a dry eye in the house, it wasn't quite the case and where I thought it would end, it didn't (as I said, I didn't really know the plot).
As it didn't end as I thought it was going to, it left me a little deflated (just a little - and I can't explain why without some spoilers) but this morning all the song have insidiously crept back into my head and I'm think - I must get the soundtrack. That's never happened before - so I shall elevate it to "truly excellent" and "go see" - ladies, take some tissues

Re: Films

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2013 5:48 pm
by Thomas W-P
plummy wrote:Watched Dredd on Sky the other night. I'm not sure why but I liked the first one (with Stallone), possibly as it doesn't take itself very seriously - but this one is just an hour and a half of wasted life and basically a "we need to escape/shoot 'em up" Avoid..
A friend said if is a "must see" . Ah, the variety of life...

Re: Films

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2013 10:01 pm
by Stan
Your friend is correct Thomas, it was far superior to the Stallone version (talk about damning with faint praise!)

Re: Films

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2013 7:28 am
by Thomas W-P
Yes, when Stallone took off his helmet that film died for me. It was pretty awful. Apparently the helmet stays on in this one.

Re: Films

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2013 9:28 am
by plummy
Snow White and the Huntsman - As it finally arrived in a form I didn't have to pay for I figured I'd give it a watch and overall it wasn't bad, truth be told.
However (Spoiler alert!!!!!!)
Character development was thin to say the least and it always annoys me when Hollywood can script people with absolutely zero sword/weapons training can suddenly beat seasoned soldiers and warriors at a single stroke. Also, how did she suddenly become so incredibly physically fit (given the years of imprisonment in a small cell). Narnia all over again!

Chronicle - my daughter said she turned this off after about 5 minutes so my expectation bar was very low - so I'm happy to report she watched the slowest bit and bailed a bit too early as it picks up from there then and rattles along quite nicely. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with this and it does pop the question in you mind - "what would I do?"

Re: Films

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2013 10:09 am
by Stan
Hi Plummy - the kids being good at sword fighting in the narnia films is down to the magic of the world they are in according to author CS Lewis. I think he explained it in the Last Battle if memory serves me correctly.
Chronicle was the worst film ever made apart from the Russia House. I actually walked out less than half way through Chronicle - I would never have gone if I had known it was done with the same camera style as the awful Cloverfield - just makes me feel sick. Rant over :D
Misplaced my brain last weekend and went to see Olympus has fallen. Die Hard fans will have a touch of deja vu with this one but as said brain was not along for the ride, I quite enjoyed it.